The course was inspirational and confidence building. It seems each of us have what is needed to be whatever our heart desires, we just needed a facilitator to draw it out.
— Find Your Eye Participant in 2012

The participant quote I’ve shared above really expresses what the Find Your Eye series is all about. It’s about building your confidence. It’s about inspiring you to be who you are in your photography. Finding your eye is no more complicated than that. Yet it’s still not easy, either. That’s why I’ve created these courses: to help you make the journey. The journey is your own, I just shine a light on the path in front of you, to help you move forward. And even if you are already moving along nicely, the courses accelerate your momentum.

My own journey has been an interesting one, filled with ups and downs, fears and joy, as those of you who regularly read my blog know. These courses come out of my own experiences. I find it interesting that I’ve added one per year… Journey of Recognition came out of 2010, Journey of Inspiration came out of 2011, and now Journey of Fascination has been born out of experiences in 2012. Each course is a different journey, taking you in a slightly different direction. I love how it doesn’t matter the order you take the courses, or if you are near the beginning of your own journey with photography or well under way, they always fit where you are.

I hope you will join me in January and February on this new journey. It’s exciting to be at the cusp of sharing something new. I’ve always thought there were more Find Your Eye courses to come and now is the right time for the next one.

I love this journey I am on. I love what I get to do in these courses, as a guide and a witness. I especially love that it makes a difference in the art and the lives of the people who join me. I’m excited to share a few other comments from participants in Find Your Eye courses this year, about their experience.

I love the interaction among the participants as well as from you, Kat. The assignments were challenging and pushed us to explore new purposes for taking photographs, but to also find meaning in them. [T]he level of interaction in this course is so much deeper and open than any other online courses I’ve completed.

I loved learning in a group, knowing there were others on the journey too and we could explore this passion for photography together. And my other favourite thing was having assignments which gave us plenty of direction but also opened up all kinds of creative possibilities.

I’ve done many classes and this one was the best, because it was a small group and because you, Kat, always give feedback and follow the group. It’s also unique, because it pushes you forward as a photographer.

[This course is unique because of] the great interaction around photo images. We all had a chance to learn from others because we paid attention to what everyone was doing not just on our individual work. It wasn’t only about feedback from you, Kat (which was very appreciated), but we seemed to get a lot out of feedback from everyone and you had an opportunity to react to some of the feedback, too. It was a group experience.

Do you have people in your life who rub off on you when you are around them? I definitely do. I pick up a little bit of their happiness or enthusiasm when I’m around them. Whatever they have going on, I just can’t help but be swept up in their excitement. I’m continuing on to London today, sharing one final story of creative connection with a person who is like that for me: Kirstin McKee.

I’ve known Kirstin for a couple of years now. I first met her online through the Mortal Muses and we spent a weekend with her family in London while we were living in Italy. Since this trip back to England was all about connection, I was excited to reconnect with Kirstin. I stayed with her and her family for a couple of days between workshops. When she suggested we go to Whitstable, a little coastal town about an hour’s drive from London, I jumped on the chance. I’d never visited the English seaside! We lucked out with a gorgeously sunny day for our excursion.

Photo by Kirstin McKee

Kirstin is fun to be around because she is so full of enthusiasm for photography. Whatever she does, she does with gusto. She’s gotten into film the last year or so, and raves about it. It makes it hard for her to decide what cameras to bring though! On this day trip she carried four cameras: dSLR, 35mm film, Polaroid and iPhone. I was a-goggle with all of her camera bags! But it was fun to watch her choose between one camera or another, to hear why she would choose each one, and to see the outcome later.

Kirstin and her camera bags

We wandered along the shore and through the town, following our interest and whatever captured our eye. We spent a good long time at this house with the gorgeous blue shutters, which reminded both of us of Greece. She even had to run back later and photograph the window again, since her original Polaroid didn’t turn out quite right.

I look at her photographs, and I’m just in awe of what she does. And she is so humble about it too. She creates because she loves it, and follows her joy. What a great example for the rest of us.

Photos by Kirstin McKee

After wandering around for a while, photographing all manner of interesting things, we wrapped up our day with an amazing lunch at the Whitstable Oyster Company. There is nothing like a fantastic meal in a lovely setting to cap off your day.

The whole thing was so much fun. This is the best kind of photography excursion to me: Visiting a new place along with a friend who loves photography as much as I do. My photographs from this day are some of my favorite from the trip.

Photos, and Photo of Photos, by Kirstin McKee

Kirstin’s enthusiasm definitely rubbed off on me. While I haven’t quite caught her bug for film, I can appreciate what she sees in it. And after she saw me using my iPod Touch, she pretty much made sure I got onto Instagram while I was with her… and you all know what’s happened from there. A whole new world has opened up for me with mobile photography.

Kirstin posting to Instagram

Thanks Kirstin, for a lovely day, and for the enthusiasm you share with all you do. It was a wonderful reconnection and I already can’t wait for the next time. Where shall we visit next?

As I wrap up this series of posts, I am excited see how each of the creative connections I made on this trip string together into a story of influences. I can observe what I gained from each one and how they each are a little stepping stone on my creative journey. I would not be in the same place today without them. Thanks for joining me as I revisited my connections in England the last couple of weeks! I look forward to sharing more of my England photos over time.

It’s time to announce the winners of my 1000th Blog Post Celebration! But first I want to thank all of you who entered. 128 entries. Wow. I’ve never had so many comments on one post! It was exciting to see them come through, and to read such lovely notes. I wanted to reply to them but that would have messed up the count for the drawing so I had to resist.

So I’ll send out a global thank you here today. Thank you for being here, for your lovely words, and for the ongoing support which allows me to share something I love with the world.

Thank you. From the bottom of my heart.

Let’s get on to the winners, shall we? Drawings were done with the random.org random number generator and winners have been emailed. Join me in congratulating them!

Grand Prize: Winner receives a class registration of choice in 2013 and a matted print of the image of their choice from my work.
#108 Lee Pope

First Prizes: Each winner will receive a matted print of the image of their choice from my work.
#105 Elizabeth Gonzalez
#42 Stephanie
#88 Andrea
#44 Cheryl
#27 Stephanie Skiff